The Duke's Bed Warmer-Chapter 38: Dead Mouse

After what she had done for Marguerite, Alina felt good. She realized she felt happier when she helped others, even though she couldn’t do much for herself.

Two days later, at dinner, Alina noticed Lady Brennan glancing at a man sitting opposite her. And the man kept glancing back. She smiled.

After dinner, Alina went to Marguerite.

"Who is the man sitting with your husband?"

"William. My brother-in-law. My mother-in-law is trying to find him a wife, but he won’t talk to anyone. He is very shy."

"Looks like I’ve found you a sister-in-law."

"What? Who?" she asked, surprised.

"Wait. You’ll know soon,"

The next afternoon, William came into the garden looking for his mother. But she wasn’t there. He was about to leave but Alina called him.

"We need someone to hold the fabric," she said. "Lady Brennan is tired."

It was a lie. But she didn’t stop Alina. William hesitated, then stepped forward. Alina gestured for him to sit close to Lady Brennan. He sat and held the fabric. Their fingers brushed, but neither pulled away.

The rest unfolded quietly.

Alina mentioned to Marguerite that William was interested in Lady Brennan. Marguerite told her mother-in-law, who told her elder son to invite William to stay longer at the castle.

She was not scheming. She just saw two people who liked each other and tried to bring them together.

But its effect was political. News spread that the bed warmer who gives good advice was now a matchmaker.

Austin heard about it from his steward.

"Miss Ashworth appears to be facilitating a connection between Lord Whitmore’s brother and Lady Brennan," he said.

Austin looked up from his desk.

"She is matchmaking?"

"It appears so, Your Grace."

He set down his pen and thought of Alina who had been here for only six weeks, and had been ignored, dismissed and humiliated. Yet every day she did something new, unintentionally, and somehow she was becoming the centre of the entire castle. He was impressed.

Audrey heard about it as well. She came to the sewing circle the next afternoon, unannounced. The ladies fell silent when she appeared. She sat and took out her supplies.

"I thought I should contribute," she said.

No one said anything; they just smiled in response and resumed working.

Afterwards, Audrey walked with her to the castle gate.

"You’re doing what I do," Audrey said. "But better."

Alina stopped.

"What do you mean?"

"I build connections with strategy. I’ve been doing it for years and I’m good at it. But...you do it with heart."

"Maybe because hearts are more convincing than strategies," Alina replied.

"Yes...they do and maybe that’s why..."

She stopped and smiled.

"Never mind," she said and walked away.

In the evening, when she entered her room and was about to lie down on the bed, she screamed.

A dead mouse was lying on her pillow.

She pressed her hand to her chest, trying to calm herself. She wasn’t afraid of rats but seeing one lying dead on her pillow, placed there deliberately, she was sure, made her scared.

She waited a few minutes, then picked it up by its tail and walked through the corridors to Austin’s study.

The study door was open. Austin was inside with three advisors. They were discussing something, but she walked in anyway.

Everyone looked at her, startled to see her holding a dead mouse by the tail. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

She walked to Austin’s desk and placed the mouse in the centre.

"A gift from your castle."

"Who did it?" he asked, his voice filled with fury.

"If I knew, I’d handle it myself."

He stood up and called his steward. He appeared in the doorway immediately and took in the scene.

"Investigate," Austin said.

The steward nodded. He picked up the mouse, wrapped it in a cloth, and carried it out. The advisors also excused themselves. Alina stood there, her hands still shaking and her heart still pounding.

"Go to bed," he said.

"Go to bed?" she repeated. "That’s your solution. Someone put a dead mouse on my pillow, and your solution is to go to bed."

"I will find who did this."

"And then what? What will you do if the person who did this turns out to be the person you trust the most?"

"Who are you implying?"

"I think...it was Audrey’s maid. She has been tracking me for weeks now. I don’t know if Audrey ordered it or not but I’m sure it was her."

"You knew someone was tracking you, and you didn’t tell me?" He was angry.

"I didn’t tell anyone. I wanted to deal with it myself."

"How?"

"I was going to find out who she was reporting to and what they wanted. And then I was going to..."

"You were going to what? Confront them? Threaten them? Use the secrets you’ve been collecting like weapons?"

"Yes," she replied. "That’s exactly what I was going to do. Because that’s the only thing I have."

He stared at her, the anger was still there but it was controlled now.

"That is not how this works," he said.

"That is exactly how this works for someone like me," she shot back. "I can’t expect you to fight my battles, especially when I’m leaving in a few weeks. You won’t be there to solve my problems in the eastern territory, will you?"

"But you’re still at Ravenmoor, aren’t you? Still under my contract. So you should have told me."

"And what would you have done differently?" she asked. "Watched me more closely? Restricted where I go? Assigned someone to follow me? Protection in this castle comes with a leash. I didn’t want one."

He crossed the distance between them, stopping inches away.

"You think I’d reduce you to that?"

"I think you already have," she said quietly. "Just in a different way."

Silence stretched between them.

"I will handle it," he said. "And when I do, everyone will remember the consequences."

"That’s not what I asked." Her voice softened. "I asked what you’ll do if the culprit turns out to be someone you trust."

He didn’t have an answer to that. And that told her she had asked the right question.